Remote control apparatus for power driven boats



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REMOTE CONTROL APPARATUS FOR POWER DRVEN BOATS Filed Sept. l, 1952 2Sheets-Sheet l Aw. 29, M33. E. E. E. MULUNS REMOTE CONTROL APPARATUS FORPOWER DRIVEN BOATS l, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Sept.

Patented Aug. 29, 1933 UNITED STATI-1sy REMOTE CONTROL APPARATUS FORPOWER DRIVEN BOATS s Ernest Edgar Edgard Mullins, Stockport,

land

Application September 1, 1932, Serial No. 631,434, and in Great BritainOctober 28, 1931 4Claim8.

This invention comprises certain improvements in remote controlapparatus for the engines of power driven boats or the like, and it hasfor its object to provide an arrangement in which mechanical connectionsbetween the parts are reduced to a minimum in order that the device willbe easy to operate and not liable to become deranged. Y

According to the present improvements, .a remote control apparatus forvmotor drivenboats and the like comprises a primary unit formed of amanually controlled lever, a fluid container system, means for forcingiluid from one part of the system through a conduit and simultaneouslydrawing in uid at another part of the container system through aconduit, and a secondary unit comprising a fluid container system and. apiston or pistons or member or members moved in the container system bythe forcing in of fluid at one part of the system and drawing out offluid at the other part of the system. In some cases the secondary unitbrings into action a power driven unit for operating the gear controllever or such like control member. The operation of the hand control ofthe primary unit may also operate the carburetter or like control forthe engine. The carburetter or engine power control is effected by meansof two pistons Working in cylinders which are respectively connected tothe cylinders of the primary unit so that the throttle or the like isoperated whenthe hand control lever is moved either in astern or aheaddirections, and after the gear control has been operated.

Referring to the drawingsz'- a Figure 1 is a general arrangement of adevice constructed according to this invention.

Figure 2 is a sectional elevation of the primary unit Ahereinafterreferred to.

Figure 3 is a sectional View of the secondary unit hereinafter referredto, showing the suction valve in a central position, after having beenmoved from right to left.

Figure 4 is a plan view of the suction cylinder showing the valveseating.

Figure 5 is a side elevation of the suction controlling valve.

Figure 6 is a face view of the valve shown by Figure 5.

Figure 'l is a face view of a suction lag plate valve hereinafterreferred to.

Figure 8 is a View showing the suctionv valve moved to the right, thelag plate remaining in the position shown by Figure 3.

Figure 9 is a view showing the valve moved to the left, past the neutralposition, the lag plate having been moved.

Figure 10 is a side elevation of the piston and cylinder devicecontrolling the carburetter or engine chrome, and

vFigure 11 is an underside plan of the device shown by Figure 10.

According to aconvenient embodiment of this invention, the primary unitcomprises two piston cylinders 1 and 2 in which reciprocate pistons 65 3and 4. The piston cylinders 1 land 2 are carried by a casing .5 in whichis mounted a spindle 6 `carrying the hand lever '1. The spindle 6 haseccentric blocks 8 and 9 thereon and eccentric 70 rods 10 are mounted onthese eccentric blocks, the inner ends of the rods being pivotallyconnected to the forked ends 11 of the pistons 3 and 4. The casing 5forms an oil reservoir which is placed in communicationv with the pistoncylin- 7 ders 1 and 2 by way of the conduits 12. Should there be anyleakage of iiuid in thesystem, such leakage will be automaticallyreplaced, because when the pistons 1 and 2 are at the top of theirstroke, the conduits 12 will place the cylinders in 80 communicationwith the reservoir. The eccentrics are arranged to reciprocate thepistons 1 and 2 in opposite directions, so that when one piston is atthe bottom of its stroke the other piston isat the top of its stroke.The cylinders 35 1 and 2 are placed respectively in communication withthe cylinders 13 and 14 of a secondary unit, the double acting or thetwo connected pistons 15 reciprocating in the cylinders. The vconduit 16passing from the cylinder 2 is connected to the 90 union 1'? on the endof the cylinder 13, whilst the conduit 18 leading from the cylinder 1 isconnected to the union 19 on the end of the cylinder 14. When thereforethe hand lever 'l' is moved in one direction the pistons 3 and 4 arerespec- 95 tively raised or lowered so that duid is respective- 'lyforced into or drawn from the cylinders 13 and 14, thereby operating thepiston 15 to move to the right or left in accordance with thedirectionalmovement of thehand lever 7. In some cases the gear controllever may be operated directly by the piston 15, and in some cases thepowerl for operating the gear lever is obtained from the suction of theengine. In such latter case the said secondary unit is mounted .on acylinder 20 in which reciprocats the double acting piston 21, .thisdouble acting piston 21 being mounted on the rod `22, the end 23 ofwhich is suitably connected to the gear control lever. The suction fromthe engine is controlled by a above the valve plate 26 is a lag valveplate 28,

such plate having a slot 29 through which the projection 27 passes, theslot 29 being longer than the projection 27. The cylinder 20 is providedwith a dat valve seating 30, to one side of which is connected the pipe3l passing to the induction pipe of the engine. The induction pipe opensinto the valve seating at the port 32. The valve seating also has a port33 which passes directly through the Wall of the cylinder 20 andtherefore communicates with the centre of the cylinder, and also twoports 34 and 35 which communicate by Way of conduits 36 and 37 with eachend -of the cylinder. The underside of the valve plate 26 has a T-shaperecess 38 so that the port 32 is always in register with the recess 38,whilst such recess can be placed in communication with any one of theports 33, 34 and 35 to apply suction to the cylinder 20. When suction isapplied on one side of the piston 21 the other side must be placed incommunication with the atmosphere and for this purpose the slide plate26 is provided With air ports 39 and 40 and also air port slots 41 and42. The lag plate valve 28 is also provided with air ports 43 and 44.When the hand control lever is in neutral position the slide plate 26 isin a position `with the port 38 opposite the port 33 which is closed bythe piston 21 (see Figure 3). I1 the piston 15 is moved to the right theplate valve 26 will be moved so that the port 38 lies over the port 34,thus passing the suction through the channel 36 to thereby draw thepiston 21 to the right. At the same time the port 33 isv brought intoregister with the port 39 so that air can pass into the cylinder on theleft hand side of the piston 21. The slot 41 is also in register withthe port 35 so that air can pass through such port also. 'I'he movementof the plate valve f' 26 into this position also ensures that the platevalve 28 is positioned with the port 43 over the K port 39. In thisposition the projection 27 bears against the right hand side of the slot29. If it indicating to is now desired to bring the piston back to cen-'tral position (Figure 3) the plate valve 26 is moved so that the port38 registers with the port 33. In view of the width of the slot 29 thelag valve 28 has not beenmoved and therefore the port -44 will registerwith the port 40 and the port 34 thus allowing air to enter therig-hthand side of the cylinder. It will be observed that the lag valve28 closes the port 39 when in.this latter position as shown by Figure 3.It will also be -observed that the slot ports 41- are necessary as aircannot be sucked through the -registering ports 33 and -39V until thepiston has moved from the central position. A similar operation takesplace when the valve plate 26 `is moved to the left.` Spring'pressedballs 55 are adapted to engage in holes 46 in the lag plate valve 28'inthe extreme positions of the lag plate-to facilitate works in a cylinder47 and has a piston,48 on the end. This cylinder contains oiland the'plsthe operator moving the hand lever ton 48 is` adapted to force orextract oil from a bylinder 49 and thus move up and down a float 50.This float 50 is connected to an indicatingpointer 51 moving over a dial52 which is marked to indicate astern, "stop and fahead.

In order to produce an air tight joint between the piston rod 22 and thecylinder 20 conical leather or like washers 53 are fixed by the lockingmember 54 to the end of the boss on the cylinder. Any attempt to suckair through the bearings will cause the leather conical caps to closetightly on the piston rod 22 and thereby effect an eiiicient air tightjoint.

The primary control unit is also adapted to operate the engine throttle,and for this purpose two cylinders 55 and 56 each have a piston 57mounted therein. The pistons are normally `forced inwardly by means ofspiral springs 59 mounted on the piston rods 60, such piston rodspassing through caps 61 in the ends of the cylinders.A Suitable airopenings are provided to permit air to freely enter or leave the spacein the cylinders at the rear containing the springs. The forward ends ofthe cylinders are fitted with cap unions 62 and these are respectivelyconnected by conduits 63 and 64 to by-pass unions 65 and 66 on theconduits 16 and 18. The springs 59 are sufficiently strong to preventany fluid being forced into the cylinders until a gear control movementhas been effected. Any further movement of the hand lever 7 willtherefore force the iiuid through the b'y-pass unions to oneof thecylinders 55 and 56, whilst a corre- .sponding amount of fluid will bedrawn from` .the hand'lever 7 is moved in the ahead or in the asterndirections one or other of the piston rods60 will be moved outwardly topress against a flat portion 67 on the lever 68. 'Ihis lever 68ispivoted to the link 69 connected to the throttle. I'he cylinders 55and 56 are mounted on the plate 70 which can be fixed between the usualcoupling flanges on the induction pipe. With this construction thereforethe operation of the lever 7 will move the gear lever into the forward,neutral, or reverse positions, and only after the gear has been engagedin either forward or reverse can the throttle\be opened. Moreover thethrottle must first be closed before the direction of the drive can bereversed.

I claim:

1. A remote control apparatus for motor driven boats and the like,comprising a primary unitpart of the system and drawing out of fluid atthe other part of the system, and means vfor connecting said piston ormember to the geax lever or control member, and means whereby acarburetter or throttle control-is operated hydraulically by theoperationof the hand lever of the primary unit, comprising two pistoncylinders, a

pistbm working in eachcylinder having a piston `'rod which passesthrough the cylinder head, a carburetter control lever' or memberactuated by the pressure of the piston rods, a spring pressing eachpiston rod into the cylinder and conduits connecting the inner ends ofthe cylinders so one cylinder and withthat iluid is forced into drawnfrom the other by the said primary unit after the 'manually operatedlev'er has been moved to actuate the gear lever into the forward orreverse positions.

2. A remote control apparatus for motor driven boats and the like,comprising a primary unit formed of a manually controlled lever, a iluidcontainer system, means for forcing uld from one part of the systemthrough a conduit and simultaneously drawing in lluid at another part ofthe container system through a conduit, and

a secondary unit comprising a uidcontainer sys-l tem and a piston orpistons moved in the container system by the forcing in of fluid at onepart of the system, other part of the system, secondary pistons formeans connected to the operating the gear lever for moving sameinto"*'ahead, astern or neutral positions, and means whereby thecontinued movement of the manual control lever causes `the operation ofa carburetter control which comes into action only after the gear lever.has been moved either into ahead or asternl positions. 3. A remotecontrol apparatus for motor driven boats and the like, comprising 'aprimary unit formed of a manually controlled lever, a fluid containersystem, means for forcing iiuid from one part 'of the systemsimultaneously drawing in fluid at another part of the container systemthrough a conduit, and a secondary unit comprising 'a fluid containersystem and a tainer system by the forcing in of duid-at one lmovement ofthe manual and drawing out of iluidat the Lmember, means whereby througha conduit and` piston or pistons moved inthe conpart of the system anddrawing out offiluid at the other part of thevsystem, a suction operateddevice connected to a suction producer, a valve controlling the suctioninlet operated by the said secondary lunit, means operatively connectingthe suction apparatus to the gear lever or control member, and meanswhereby the continued control lever causes the operation ofl acarburetter control which comes intb action only after thel gear leverhas been moved either into ahead or astern positions.

'4. A remote controlv apparatus for motor driven boats and thelike,comprising a primary unit formed of a manually controlled lever, a iluidcontainer system, means for forcing fluid from one part of the systemthrough a. yconduit and simultaneously drawing in fluid at another partof the container system through a conduit, and a secondary unitcomprising a fluid container system and a piston or pistons moved in thecontainer system by the'forcing in of fluid at one part of the systemand drawing out of uid at the fotler part ofthe system, a suctionoperated device connected to a suction producer, `a. valve controllingthe suction inlet operated by the said secondary unit, means operativelyconnecting the suction apparatus to the gear lever or control thecontinued move# ment .of the manual control lever causes the operationof al carburetter contrpl `which comes into action only afterv the gearlever has been moved either into ahead or,ast'ern positions, and anindicator connected to the suction operated device to indicate theposition of the gear'.

Y ERNEST EDGAR EDWARD MULLINS

